BAY CITY, Michigan — A Bay City man accused of shooting two people in the head for more than $40 has accepted a plea deal requiring him to return to prison.
Matthew E. Owczarzak, 35, appeared before Judge Joseph K. Sheeran of the Bay County Circuit Court on Tuesday, January 17, to face a single felony count of possession of a firearm and a felony firearm. did not file an objection. The former is his five-year felony, while the latter conviction mandates a minimum of two years’ imprisonment in a row with the associated prison term.
Owczarzak faces at least 13 months in prison for the felony, but could face up to seven and a half years in prison, according to the petition.
In exchange for Owczarzak’s plea, the prosecution agreed to dismiss the second felony firearms and drug or cocaine possession charges.
Owczarzak was found not guilty and did not plead because he lacked a memory of his crime. By pleading so, he did not admit to having committed the crime, and Sheeran was forced to rely on documents to enter the conviction on his record.
Police answered a medical call at a home on the 600 block of Wilson Street in Bay City’s South End at approximately 3:45 p.m. . When they arrived, a 26-year-old man was walking down the street, his face covered in blood, saying he had been shot in the head and was unable to move his left arm.
Police also found a 22-year-old woman leaning against a lawn chair, bleeding profusely from her head. Records show she had a glass smoking pipe and was wrapped in a blanket.
Both victims were taken to a local hospital for treatment.
Parked in the grass at the scene was a Jeep Cherokee with its driver’s side window broken and blood splattered.
Two women told police they were in a jeep with two injured people. The man was the driver and the injured woman was the front passenger.
The women said they were stopped in Wilson’s Alley when the silver sedan stopped. The man got out of the sedan, approached the jeep, smashed the driver’s window with a pistol, and fired into the interior of the jeep.
Both women identified Owczarzak as the shooter, saying the shooting was over $40. One of the women’s girlfriends said the injured man cracked up.
The injured man’s ex-girlfriend told police that Owczarzak visited her about 30 minutes before the shooting, not the woman who was in the Jeep.
“Matthew was in a funny, joking mood,” an ex-girlfriend told police. “Matthew said he was ready to shoot.” [the man] But laughed about it.
The injured woman suffered a skull fracture, parietal laceration, and significant bleeding. According to court records, her doctor told police she may have been hit by a bullet.
The injured man told police at Saginaw Hospital that he drove someone to where the shooting took place.
“Someone came speeding down the alley and jumped off,” he told police. “I had the door locked and the window open. I couldn’t see it for a moment.”
The injured man initially said he did not know who shot him, but later said he knew the shooter but did not identify him by name.
“It was a very small amount, $40,” the injured man told police. “It’s basically a principle.”
On the night of November 17, 2021, police monitored the Bay City home where Owczarzak was believed to be inside. Owczarzak left the house and drove away, but he pulled over and was arrested by the police.
Owczarzak was in prison for drug offenses, according to Michigan Department of Corrections records.
Judge Sheeran is scheduled to sentence Owczarzak on February 27 at 9:00 am.
Read more from MLive:
Bay City man shoots two in the head over $40 drug debt, court records show
Police arrest suspect in double shooting in Bay City’s Southend
22-year-old woman in critical condition after two shootings in Bay City
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